What’s In the Kitchen?

Some weeks, no matter how well intentioned there comes a day when it’s time to cook and for some reason the planned meal isn’t going to work ~ I either forgot to defrost something, we didn’t get to the grocery store on time, or we got off track with the weekly menu plan. I don’t know it happens. I find myself playing a little game called:

What’s in the kitchen?

This game comes down to finding what I’ve got available and how I can cook it so it is tasty and people will actually eat it! Luckily my daughter is not very picky ~ but unfortunately the husband is.

So last week I found myself playing what’s in the kitchen because I hadn’t gotten to the grocery store for some reason ~ maybe it was snow, maybe it was because I hate going to the grocery store and was feeling lazy. who knows.

Anyway, here’s what I found in the kitchen.

Can of diced tomatoes
rice
Mrs. Dash Tomato and Basil seasoning
olive oil
1 onion

In the freezer I found some chicken quarters (Thank heaven for those 5 dollar for 10 lbs of chicken deals)

As far as rustling up random things from my kitchen I’m off to a pretty good start.

If I had played this game earlier in the day I would have just chucked it all in the crock pot and called it good, but alas, I had waited until 4:30p to get this game going.

Here’s what I did.

I defrosted the chicken in the microwave ~ taking that time to finish putting any stray dishes in the dishwasher and heating up a pan.

While it was defrosting I also diced up the onion and put it in the pan to cook.

Once the onion was cooked I added the tomato and 2 capfuls of Mrs. Dash. (because the chicken was taking forever to defrost). I let all that stuff simmer while the chicken finished defrosting.

When it was done I threw it in on top of the tomato mixture ~ realized I had some chopped garlic in the fridge and threw that in too.

I then let it simmer for a while. Not sure how long ~ probably 20 or 30 minutes.

I put the rice on because all I had was Jasmine rice and that takes a while to cook, and it doesn’t hurt it to sit for a little while after it’s done.

How did it turn out?

Actually… it was really good! I have to say the tomato basil Mrs. Dash is my newest favorite seasoning. It works for just about everything, has a great flavor but isn’t overpowering. Quite tasty ~ one tip ~ use more than you think you need. It may say Mrs. DASH on the bottle, but to taste good you’re really going to need well more than a dash.

I found some green beans in the freezer which I nuked while the rice was sitting and put together a nice little meal.

I’m always on the look out for simple recipes using things that I probably have in the house ~ feel free to share your favorite “What’s in the Kitchen” recipe.